Friday, November 5, 2010

Mysteries of colour vision revealed as scientists map out eye's neural network: Now the puzzle has been solved as researchers reveal for the first time the pattern of connectivity between the cone receptor cells and the ganglion cells.
The electrode array, which made this study possible, was developed over five years at the James Watt Nanofabrication Centre in conjunction with the University of California at Santa Cruz and AGH Krakow.
The system records neural signals at high speed (over ten million samples each second) and with fine spatial detail, sufficient to detect even a locally complete population of the tiny and densely spaced output cells known as ‘midget’ retinal ganglion cells.
Dr Mathieson added: “The electrode array we developed enabled us to measure the retinal output signals of hundreds of cells simultaneously and create a map of the input-output relationship at an unprecedented resolution and scale.”